The narrow width of elevator shafts has become a notable factor as elevator solutions without machine room have become common. For efficient space utilization, the elevator ropes have been fitted to run in the elevator shaft at a close distance from the elevator guide rails, or some other component, e.g. the elevator car, may be closely spaced from the elevator guide rails. Another problem is how to implement the fixing of the guide rails in a workable way. With current guide rail fixing solutions, which are generally based on a clamping fixing method, mounting the guide rails is a slow and difficult operation.
Prior art is described in patent specification U.S. Pat. No. 4,593,794. This specification discloses a solution representing the traditional way of fixing the guide rails in an elevator shaft. The elevator guide rails and counterweight guide rails, which have a T-shaped cross-sectional form, are secured with separate guide fixing brackets to the wall of the elevator shaft. However, this solution has the drawback that each guide rail requires a separate guide fixing bracket, which adds to the number of fixing components needed, such as e.g. the number of bolts and separate guide fixing brackets. In addition, because of the large number of components, mounting the guide rails is a slow and difficult task. As for space utilization, the solution in question is not optimal, which is due to the large number of components and their size. Moreover, in the prior-art fixing arrangement, the distance between the guide rails as well as the distance between the guide fixing brackets is large.